Area codes 847 and 224


Area codes 847 and 224 are Illinois area codes covering northeastern Illinois and many northern suburbs of Chicago. They serve most of Lake County, the northern part of Cook County, the northern part of Kane County, and a small part of McHenry County.
The main area code, 847, was created on January 20, 1996, in a three-way split from area code 708. Within only five years, however, 847 itself was already close to exhaustion due to the explosive growth of the Chicago suburbs and the proliferation of cell phones and pagers. On January 5, 2002, area code 224 overlaid the 847 NPA and 10-digit dialing was implemented.
The area code is mentioned in The Art of the Steal by Frank Abagnale, regarding a 900 phone call scam. He stated that the 847 area code used to be a "premium" phone call area code in the North American Numbering Plan.

Communities included